by Gini Koch
“Oh, I’m sorry, Kitty. What you said about the temperature just made sense.”
We waited. That was it.
“Serene? We’re not on your wavelength and time is, as it so often is, of the extreme essence. Full sentences, with all the information that no one else has guessed.” Not even Claudia and Lorraine, based on their expressions.
“Oh. This isn’t dangerous.” She pointed to the orb. “Well, I think it could be, of course, and we shouldn’t touch it, but it’s not here to do bad things. It’s the power source.”
“For what?” Christopher asked, taking one for most of the team.
“I think for the entire planet.”
CHAPTER 40
“I CALL SHENANIGANS. The power source to keep this cavern warm? Fine. The power source to keep the cavern warm and work the warp tunnel? Okay. The power source for the entire planet? Not buying it.”
“I can,” Lorraine said slowly. “Especially if Chuck’s right—and we know he is—and the core of the planet is loaded with plutonium or uranium or both. I think this is a nuclear generator of some kind.”
Every human, Chuckie included, took a giant step back, and dragged whichever A-C they were closest to back with them.
“Let’s move away from the source that turns people sterile and gives them horrible cancers, shall we?” It was clear I was speaking for everyone other than the girls, Chuckie included.
Claudia pulled out of Randy’s hold. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s shielded. But I think Serene’s right. Good job on pointing out the warmth, Kitty.”
“Wow, always willing to take credit for just saying something randomly that turns out to be right and all that, but radiation isn’t a fun thing, girls.”
“It’s shielded,” Lorraine repeated, patience clearly forced. “Trust us. That’s why we knew not to touch it.”
“Is it a shield you can see?” I really wanted proof. Hey, Chuckie and the flyboys had no regeneration and I knew they all wanted to have kids or more kids, depending, and live long, healthy lives. The rest of us did, too.
“That it’s shielded is something we can derive from a variety of factors,” Serene said. “Chuck, you know it’s shielded, you can do the math, too.”
“I’ll take your word on it,” Chuckie said. “Though the presence of a power source isn’t surprising.”
“Why here?” Jeff asked. “Why this cavern in this area?”
“It’s really cold and deserted in this part of the world,” Claudia said.
“Which would make this cavern more appealing to the life that’s out there,” I pointed out, “not less. Besides, how is it getting power anywhere? Though the stalagmite and stalactite?”
“Yes.” Lorraine sounded extremely pleased with me. “Exactly, Kitty.”
Chose to not share that, once again, I was tossing something out that just happened to be right. I knew when to go on sounding brilliant. “I’m with Jeff, then. Why would someone put the power orb here? Or, rather, why only the one?”
“Well, there could be others,” Serene admitted. “But I think this one is strong enough to cover the entire world, especially if this is truly the only continent.”
“I don’t buy it. I’m going to put forward a theory that the moment we find another cavern like the two we’ve been in already they’ll be in another part of the world and they’ll have both a warp tunnel and a power orb.”
“My bet is at least three power orbs,” Chuckie said. “Because I’m with Kitty—even if one is good enough, whoever put it in place must have put in a backup generator, if you will.”
“And there are seven sections, but the Purple Land is avoided by all for a variety of reasons. Meaning I think the tunnel we just took moved us from Bronze to White Land while avoiding the Purple parts.”
“Yellow is between White and Purple,” Christopher said. “And can we call it something other than the White Land? I feel like you’re telling me I conquered the place or something.”
“Sure. We already have Greenland here, let’s call this place Iceland.”
Chuckie laughed. “The names would be far more accurate here than they are on Earth.”
“Yeah, ’cause we’re not Vikings trying to fool everyone else and keep the good parts for ourselves without having to fight for them.”
Chuckie sighed. “You know that theory has been debunked.”
“Blah, blah, blah.”
“It’s possible that if we can find other caverns and tunnels that those tunnels will go to the Yellow or Purple Lands,” Serene said quickly, probably to forestall a conspiracies theory discussion. “We just have to find them and test.”
“We have hundreds of beings who are now homeless because we had to use their homes to save them and ourselves,” Jeff said sternly. “All the rest of this can wait. We need to determine what we do with and for the Lecanora and their animals before we do anything else.”
A throat cleared behind us and we turned to see King Benny standing there. “The Gods are coming together. There is not one of my people who would wish to be anywhere other than where you are, Leoalla.”
“King Benny, who are these women?” I pointed to the girls.
King Benny smiled at me, teeth showing. Decided it was just how otters smiled. “And still Shealla tests me. They are the Muses of Knowledge, Shealla. They give inspiration for creativity and science, and therefore assist the Gods with creation.”
“Right you are again,” I said cheerfully. “I told the other Gods that King Benny was always right about his God-knowledge.”
He beamed at us while the others all nodded quickly. That was one of the nice things about working with smart people—they tended to catch on quickly.
“What do you call the different lands?” Claudia asked King Benny. Which made me feel bad—because none of us so far had thought to ask.
“They were originally named for the Gods,” he replied.
“Originally?” Chuckie asked.
King Benny nodded. “Our king has demanded the names be changed. But, Shealla, the Giver of Names, is here with us, and whatever Shealla says we should call these lands we will call them. Therefore, we are now in Iceland.” Clearly King Benny had been listening to us for far longer than we’d realized.
“We can discuss these things later,” Jeff said with finality.
“Right, because the issue is how we move everyone,” Jerry said. “Since we had to sacrifice your wagons.”
King Benny shrugged. “They are things. You saved what mattered—the lives. All the lives.” King Benny bowed to us. “That the Gods would risk all to save the least of their creatures proves that the Gods are good and right and their laws are just.”
“Ah, just checking, but you don’t think we created the snakipedes, ah, I mean the Horrors?”
“Oh, no, Shealla. We know that they were created by Zenoca.”
This was a new one. “Just checking, but who do you think Zenoca is?”
King Benny shrugged. Somehow he still had his antlers on and the shrug moved them again in a humorous way. And again I contained the Inner Hyena. Go me. “He is the creator of all that is evil in our world and all others.”
“What does Zenoca look like?” Chuckie asked. “To you, I mean.”
“Zenoca can change his appearance, Alcalla, as I know you well know.”
“Then how do you know that one of us isn’t Zenoca?” Chuckie seemed intent, and I could see the wheels spinning in his head. I just didn’t know why they were so spinning.
“Zenoca always travels with the glittering Jewel of the Gods, which he stole from the First Father of the Gods. The Jewel cannot be hidden from our sight, the First Father of the Gods saw to that.”
And all of a sudden, I knew exactly why Chuckie was on this line of questioning. “King Benny, does Zenoca sometimes appear as a woman?”
; “Yes, Shealla. Many times. Zenoca has much guile, and in one of his incarnations he used his influence to create a King of the Clans of our people.”
“Oh?” Jeff asked. “So your people didn’t always have a king?”
“No. We had our own clans and clan leaders, and while we interacted, we didn’t encroach on each other’s ways. But once we were under the rule of the king, we were forced to alter much of our lives.”
“How long ago did this happen?” Christopher asked.
“Two of our years ago.”
“Years are arbitrary,” Claudia said. “On Alpha Four, we counted a year as a revolution around one of the suns, but not both. King Benny, how do you count years here?”
“A full return, Muse. We must travel around both suns before our year is done, so that we honor all the Gods and shirk none.”
Did the math. “So, roughly four years ago for us. And you know who was sneaking around over in this solar system behind our backs at that time?” When I was pregnant with Jamie, and while they were setting up Operation Confusion.
Everyone on my team nodded. “The former Diplomatic Corps,” Christopher snarled.
“Assisted by Ronaldo al Dejahl,” Chuckie added.
“And LaRue, who I believe I’ve mentioned is a shape shifter. In other words, Zenoca is probably her real name.”
“Ronaldo?” King Benny seemed very intent. “That is our king’s name.”
“Really? That seems far too coincidental to me. What clan did he come from?”
King Benny shook his head. “He is not Lecanora. He looks more like all of you, like the Gods. Zenoca was in female form and convinced most of the clan leaders that we needed a strong king to protect us.”
“Protect you from whom?” Jeff asked.
“Threats.” King Benny shook his head. “The biggest threat on our world are the Horrors, and no king can protect us from them, especially one who just sits on his throne and does nothing. Some believe he is a God, but my people, we have seen his true heart, and he is of Zenoca.”
“And,” I said to the others with false cheerfulness, “lucky us, he’s probably also a clone.”
CHAPTER 41
“DOES IT GET ANY better than this?” Joe asked.
“Probably,” Walker said. “Never sell our enemies short.”
“So, we have to take down the king then, right, Kitty?” Hughes asked me.
“That will be easier said than done, guys.”
Randy shrugged. “We’ve done harder things.”
Jerry laughed. “True enough. But Jeff’s issue is still the key one, isn’t it? How do we get everyone out of here safely, let alone quickly? It’s great to talk about another warp tunnel. Finding another is the hard part.”
“Maybe not,” King Benny said. “As you know, my people come from all regions where the Lecanora are allowed to live. Some of them may know of caverns such as the two Alcalla and the Muses have found.”
“Love how Chuck gets all the credit,” Christopher muttered.
Ignored him, because there was a word that King Benny had said that stuck out. “Allowed? Where aren’t you allowed to live, and why?”
“We do not live in the Purple Lands, as you call them, or where they,” he indicated the Big Birds, “dwell. And none but my clan live in the lands where Leoalla found us.”
“Because they’re barren or because they’re right next to the Purple Land?”
“Both, Shealla. May I fetch the others?”
“Absolutely.” Looked back to the others as King Benny trotted off. “I find it hard to believe that LaRue or anyone else knows about the powers in the sections of the world where the katyhoppers and strautruch live.”
“Why not?” Jeff asked. “Other than the fact that those lands aren’t already destroyed and overfarmed, I mean.”
“No one’s reading our minds or moving us around against our will at home. However, I’m willing to bet cash money that the dirt or the elements in the Bronze Land that dampened your skills down to nothing is in all the empathic overlays and enhancers that are tormenting us back on Earth.”
“That makes sense,” Lorraine said. “I wonder if whatever they did to the imageers originated on this planet, as well.”
“Potentially,” Chuckie replied. “But, there’s another thing to consider, and that’s the idea that this Ronaldo might not be a clone at all.”
Let that sit on the air for a bit. “They said they weren’t going to clone more than just LaRue, Leventhal Reid, and the Mastermind,” Claudia said finally.
“That doesn’t mean they were telling the truth,” Chuckie pointed out. “LaRue and Ronaldo went to the Galactic Core, as least as far as we know. They definitely went to the Z’porrah home world. And who knows if the cloning advancements our enemies have made were created on Earth?”
“Does that mean the LaRue that was killed by Esteban Cantu was a clone, too?”
“Why make a clone of her on Earth if that was the case?” Lorraine asked. “When we found the cloning facility underneath Gaultier, neither she nor the Leventhal Reid clone acted as if there was a master around somewhere to worry about.”
“We’ll find out, I assume,” Jeff said. “But I see King Benny coming back with his advisors. Seriously, do we have even the slightest plan for how to get all of from here to there, to any there other than here, I mean?”
“I might,” Serene said slowly. She was still staring at the power orb. “Just deal with the natives and see if they can determine where another cavern might be.”
Serene was an explosives expert of the highest order—that was her “fun” hobby. Wanted to ask if she thought she could blow us up to get us wherever we needed to go, but didn’t in case her answer was “yes.”
King Benny rejoined us with the same group of advisors as before, one of whom was Nanda, the beaver-chick, and the ostensible owner of Pretty Girl. I opened my mouth and she put up her paw. “I have already heard your pronouncement, Shealla. And I agree—the ocellar kit will remain with Patrina, and her family will not need to provide me with payment for her.”
“What payment do you need from me?”
She laughed. “The Gods ask if we need payment to follow one of their decrees?” She shook her head. “Rescue our world from the evil of Zenoca. That will be payment for anything and everything.” The others nodded.
“No pressure,” Christopher said quietly.
“Let’s start with getting all of us out of this region,” Jeff said. “I don’t see any of you whose coloration would indicate that you come from around here.”
“Which we’re calling Iceland to make Binalla Christopher happy,” I added in case King Benny hadn’t already shared.
The Lecanora all nodded. “We have Lecanora who reside here,” King Benny said. “However, they have not fallen out of favor with the king, and so do not join us.”
“Really? None of them have seen what the rest of you did? None of them have questioned the status quo, ah, the way things are?”
“Their clan leader is strong, and their clan prefers to remain apart from the rest of the Lecanora. They may all have seen the ships, and they may all chafe under the king’s rule. But they will not let any others know if that is the case.”
“Got it!” Serene exclaimed. She spun around. “Chuck, Claudia, Lorraine—I need to run some formulas past you.” At which point Serene started spouting higher math and my brain said that it refused to hear her words.
Looked at Christopher. “While they discuss this, are you up to doing a search of this region with me?”
“Chuck and I already did.”
“Yes, but you were looking for our team, ah, other Gods. I’m not looking for them now, since the Muses are here already. It looks like we have some light left, and I’d like to take care of this before dark for certain and before tomorrow if we can.”
“I’m counting on it.” Looked up at Jeff, whose mouth was opening. “You need to handle things here. I’ll be with Christopher and we won’t be gone long, I promise.”
Jeff closed his mouth and heaved a sigh. “I should say no, but it’s probably bad for my image to have my wife constantly ignoring my orders.”
“Probably,” I said cheerfully as I leaned up and kissed him. “Order me around the moment we have some alone-time,” I whispered. “I promise I’ll be obedient then.”
He grinned. “I’ll hold you to that, baby.”
With that, I took Christopher’s hand. “Where to?” he asked.
“The borders first, then inward. I literally want to search this entire region.” Christopher shrugged and we took off at not-quite-Flash level. “Why so slow?”
“You want to search for something or someone. I can go faster if you want, but I figured you’d like to see.”
“Yeah. I went at supersonic speeds in the other universe. It was hella cool.”
He laughed. “I can take you that fast, Kitty, but I don’t think it’s what you actually need or want.”
“No, you’re right.”
We continued on at the slower Flash speed. Still faster than normal hyperspeed but not as fast as Christopher could go. Despite the fact that it was covered in ice and snow and had the temperatures to match, it was less mountainous than I’d expected, and I said as much to Christopher.
“No, that’s what you’re not realizing. Hang on.” We zipped off and stopped. “Look around,” he pointed. “That’s the ocean that surrounds the continent.”
“Okay, I see it. It seems far away, even though we seem to be at the edge of the land here.”
“It is and we are.” He turned me around and pointed again. “See that point far, far away? I think that’s the All Seeing Mountain. We didn’t make it there for a variety of reasons, but mostly because we were saving it for last and spotted the snakipedes before we could go check it out. Chuck’s positive it’s the highest point on this continent. But we’re standing on the next highest. The land here is literally all mountains, though the topography is more like a lot of really tall mesas.”